Practical principles for the design of packaging containers

The size of the package includes three proposals: "Price Proposal," "Usage Proposal," and "Store Proposal." These proposals will have a great impact on consumers' purchase priorities and sales. In other words, in the packaging strategy, it is the size of the final killer, the possibility of neglecting this strategic success is very low.

[Keywords] packaging container design To make the food, beverages, household products and cosmetics, etc. accepted by the market, the importance of packaging design Needless to say. However, what are the most important factors in the composition of these product packaging designs? If you ask such a question, there will be a variety of colors, signs, materials, practicalities, and so forth. Some of these answers were surprisingly overlooked, but NIKKEI DESIGN reminded everyone not to forget the "size" of the package. Because of its unique size and attractiveness compared to other factors. Specifically, the size of the package includes three proposals: “price proposal”, “use proposal”, and “shop proposal”. These proposals will have a great impact on consumers' purchase priorities and sales. In other words, in the packaging strategy, it is the size of the final killer, the possibility of neglecting this strategic success is very low.

Packaging should also be practical

With the increase of Dink family and elderly families, the demand for small packages in real life is increasing. However, it cannot be said that the demand for large-capacity packaging will be reduced in the future. The demand for large-capacity packaging in products that can be stored for a long time and can be pre-reserved, such as seasonings, alcohol, detergents, etc., remains high.

Of course, large-capacity packaging also needs to be carefully designed, because “the basic performance of daily necessities is not much different now, and all manufacturers cannot rely solely on the basic performance of the product to compete, but must rely on practicality and other additional functions to compete” (Lion Researcher at the Institute of Family Science, Research Technology Division, Watanabe Watao. Although the packaging of the product is large and heavy, how can the customer be portable? Let's take a look at the lion's detergent, which looks like a "handle" and is easy to use.

The lion's softener "Sofran C" series was changed to a new package in 1999. In developing this package, the chief director of the Lion King, Watanabe, who is engaged in the study of packaging practicality, focused on the size of the handle. By observing the use cases of users, we found that the past packaging and packaging of other companies "when the fingers do not go in, needless to say, most of them still have the problem of not tilting the body to place the corner of the package on top of it." (Watanabe Chief Researcher), it was decided that the handle part must be studied again to solve this problem.

Reliable on easy-open winning packs

If the big package pursues "portability", then the small package should be "easy to open". In order to be able to use simple, well-resourced products, the market demand for small containers is very strong. When referring to such a small amount of containers beforehand, the most important thing is the tightness. This is because it is very important to keep the content in the seal during circulation.

On the other hand, because the packaging of small items is very small, the fingers must be used with ingenuity when they are turned on. Small packaged foods are convenient to carry around when visiting the park, and you can eat a little bit of hunger each time. From this point of view, it is the most suitable product for children and the elderly, but the solid seal is really People have headaches. So it is just as important to be easy to open.

A typical example is a cheese product. In recent years, these products have attracted attention through various designs that make packaging easy to open. In the case of most products using aluminum foil and transparent plastic packaging, Rokko Butter's “Fromage Rokko” series uses unique paper packaging.

Paper is used for packaging, so it can reduce environmental pollution when it is thrown away. Due to pulp molding, the shape of the package can be freely changed to some extent, and of course printing can also be performed directly. It is the Japanese paper industry that produces this product packaging. It uses the technology of Unifill, an Italian packaging company, to form, fill, and cut on a filling machine. Resin-type materials can be used in addition to paper.

The size of the opening indicator is the key to easy opening

Another is the packaging of children's cheese “Hai!Cheese” jointly developed by Xueyin Dairy and packaging packaging manufacturer Komatsu. After using the packing material named "EPACK", the package can be opened with only 1/10 of the usual force. It is said that this strength can also be adjusted according to the product. In addition, the “Hai!Cheese” cheese is 32 mm in height and 9 mm in width, which is calculated by actually measuring the size of the children's mouth.

Now we can easily compare the above two products with the traditional products of “Rights of Six-butter Butter”, “QBB Baby Cheese”. Compare which product is easier to open by measuring the time it takes to place the product on the table, open it, and place it on the platter.

When opening the package, in addition to being opened in the normal state, two layers of thick-line work gloves were worn to reduce the friction between the hand and the package, to simulate the state of little grip strength. In addition, experiments were carried out that blindfolded the opening of the package in order to simulate visual impairments or to be invisible in the dark.

Package Openability Comparison Test Pursues Universal Design Paper Packaging March 26 (1 minute 53 seconds)

● Use the easy opening comparison test of aluminum foil packaging materials.
● Open the cheese, which is packed in paper and aluminum foil, respectively, and test how much worse the time can be.
● Put on gloves to simulate unpacking with little grip and inflexible fingers.

The results are clear at a glance. The time required to open the QBB infant cheese was 18 seconds without gloves, 44 seconds with two layers of labor gloves, and 34 seconds with blindfold. The Fromage A of 10 seconds, 11 seconds, 14 seconds, Hai! Cheese is 6 seconds, 11 seconds, and 12 seconds, respectively. The key is also the size of the opening indicator (Tab) for opening the package design. If it is big, even if it is easy to slip, it can be easily grasped and it is easy to make it. Needless to say, it can also be found at a glance.

However, despite the original launch of Fromage Six, its packaging as a selling point, but did not persist, temporarily decided to delay sales, and then do further research. According to the company, "the price is too high compared to competing products." We changed 6 packages to 4 packages and lowered prices. In addition to focusing on the size of packaging, we must also emphasize price strategies and brand strategies that emphasize “natural cheese”.

Even if the size of the package is changed to increase the attractiveness of the price of the product and the attractiveness of the store, if it is difficult to use, the attractiveness of use cannot be fully exerted. Regardless of whether the packaging is large or small, discussions based on Universal Design (UD) should be conducted. However, from a long-term perspective, even unique and epoch-making use proposals must be balanced with factors such as price to accept market judgment.